Last Modified: Monday, April 29, 2013 at 10:01 a.m.

Tony is a certified genius: According to his official Marvel biography he graduated from MIT at the age of 15. Mostly, though, he just fooled around and let untrustworthy minions run his company – until, in the movie "Iron Man," he was kidnapped by Taliban-like terrorists in Afghanistan.

When captured, Tony suffered what would have been a fatal chest wound. Instead, a kindly scientist held prisoner by the terrorists built him a sort of artificial heart – and some rudimentary armor to protect it. Tony fought his way free in the first movie, then decided to fix up his armored suit with flying jets, repulsor beams and other neat weaponry. The red-and-gold color scheme, by the way, dates back to the early comic.

Tony's still kind of a wild man. In "Iron Man 2," while suffering from palladium poisoning (see below), he went off on drunken benders. (Given Downey's troubled past, the casting proves intriguing.) Pre-Iron Man Tony was also something of a womanizer, hanging out with slinky actresses, fashion models and at least one TV reporter. More recently, though, he's only had eyes for Pepper Potts.

B.) Pepper Potts (yes, really) is Tony's ace assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). In the comics, Tony promoted her from the secretarial pool after she caught one of his rare math errors. In the first "Iron Man," he started out treating her the way James Bond treats Miss Moneypenny, but they've grown closer. In "Iron Man 2," thinking he was dying, Tony promoted her to CEO of Stark Industries.

C.) Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes is the closest thing Tony has to a best friend (played by Terrence Howard in the first movie and by Don Cheadle since). Rhodes helped Tony whip the bad guys in the first movie; in the second, he got his own suit of armor and went by the code name War Machine.

• "Iron Man 2 (2010) – Tony negotiates peace among the superpowers and organizes a world expo for peaceful science. Alas, he discovers he's dying from palladium poisoning (from the power pack that protects his heart and powers his suit) and goes into a funk. He's healed with an antidote (and dried out from a serious bender) by Col. Nick Fury and his agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), a reformed assassin known as The Black Widow. Meanwhile, with the help of a mad Russian scientist (Mickey Rourke), a rival industrialist steals plans for Tony's suit and builds his own army of Iron Men. Tony and Rhodey defeat them in an exciting aerial battle.

• "The Avengers" (2012) – Iron Man joins Captain America, Thor, Black Widow and other heroes to aid Fury's super-secret spy agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Its headquarters are on a gigantic flying aircraft carrier.) Their foe is none other than the Norse trickster-god Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who enters our universe looking for a gizmo called the Tesseract and sets out to conquer the world. Tony's great quote: "You have an army. We have a Hulk." (As in The Incredible Hulk.) The big showdown battle takes place on the streets of New York – and after almost dying again, Tony takes everyone out for some shawarma.

<p>WHO'S WHO</p><p>A.) Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man: billionaire playboy industrialist (played by Robert Downey Jr.), who inherited Stark Industries from his dad, Howard. </p><p>Tony is a certified genius: According to his official Marvel biography he graduated from MIT at the age of 15. Mostly, though, he just fooled around and let untrustworthy minions run his company – until, in the movie "Iron Man," he was kidnapped by Taliban-like terrorists in Afghanistan. </p><p>When captured, Tony suffered what would have been a fatal chest wound. Instead, a kindly scientist held prisoner by the terrorists built him a sort of artificial heart – and some rudimentary armor to protect it. Tony fought his way free in the first movie, then decided to fix up his armored suit with flying jets, repulsor beams and other neat weaponry. The red-and-gold color scheme, by the way, dates back to the early comic.</p><p>Tony's still kind of a wild man. In "Iron Man 2," while suffering from palladium poisoning (see below), he went off on drunken benders. (Given Downey's troubled past, the casting proves intriguing.) Pre-Iron Man Tony was also something of a womanizer, hanging out with slinky actresses, fashion models and at least one TV reporter. More recently, though, he's only had eyes for Pepper Potts.</p><p>B.) Pepper Potts (yes, really) is Tony's ace assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). In the comics, Tony promoted her from the secretarial pool after she caught one of his rare math errors. In the first "Iron Man," he started out treating her the way James Bond treats Miss Moneypenny, but they've grown closer. In "Iron Man 2," thinking he was dying, Tony promoted her to CEO of Stark Industries.</p><p>C.) Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes is the closest thing Tony has to a best friend (played by Terrence Howard in the first movie and by Don Cheadle since). Rhodes helped Tony whip the bad guys in the first movie; in the second, he got his own suit of armor and went by the code name War Machine.</p><p>D.) Jarvis (voice of Paul Bettany) is Tony's personal supercomputer. Jarvis helps Tony operate the flying armored suits' complex controls, and occasionally he talks back. Think Siri with an attitude.</p><h3>Our story so far...</h3>
<p>• "Iron Man" (2008) – Tony gets nearly blown up, is kidnapped and invents his flying suit. He discovers that his kidnapping was planned by his No. 2 man, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). (Intriguingly Stane and the "Iron Man 3" villain Mandarin look a bit alike – bald with goatee and mustache.) Using Stark's designs, Stane builds an armored flying suit of his own, but Tony overcomes him in a thrilling aerial duel. In a last-minute teaser, he meets Col. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).</p><p>• "Iron Man 2 (2010) – Tony negotiates peace among the superpowers and organizes a world expo for peaceful science. Alas, he discovers he's dying from palladium poisoning (from the power pack that protects his heart and powers his suit) and goes into a funk. He's healed with an antidote (and dried out from a serious bender) by Col. Nick Fury and his agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), a reformed assassin known as The Black Widow. Meanwhile, with the help of a mad Russian scientist (Mickey Rourke), a rival industrialist steals plans for Tony's suit and builds his own army of Iron Men. Tony and Rhodey defeat them in an exciting aerial battle.</p><p>• "The Avengers" (2012) – Iron Man joins Captain America, Thor, Black Widow and other heroes to aid Fury's super-secret spy agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Its headquarters are on a gigantic flying aircraft carrier.) Their foe is none other than the Norse trickster-god Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who enters our universe looking for a gizmo called the Tesseract and sets out to conquer the world. Tony's great quote: "You have an army. We have a Hulk." (As in The Incredible Hulk.) The big showdown battle takes place on the streets of New York – and after almost dying again, Tony takes everyone out for some shawarma.</p>